Road measuring apparatus



June 15, 1937. w. HALL 2,083,841

ROAD MEASURING APPARATUS Filed NOV. 16, 1955 W Z v atfoznuz a? E a;

1 I l g avwenfo z, Zcwzis WM Patented June 15, 1937 Ufti'iED TA FSE assess PATENT @FFEQE 3 Claims.

My invention relates to a road measuring apparatus and it is an object thereof to provide means whereby the contour of a road surface can be measured quickly and accurately.

5 In making roads such as concrete highways it is customary first to prepare the surface. of the ground by means of road surfacing machines and the concrete is laid thereon usually in two strips and commonly in two layers foreach strip, whereby each strip (and also each layer of a strip, if

so laid) may be permitted to harden before proceeding further. It is required that the concrete be of a minimum thickness, and usually this varies from the middle of the road to the sides,

being greatest at the sides and varying uniformly from the sides to the thinnest part at the middle. If the concrete is not laid as thickly as called for by the. specifications there is a loss to the state or other proprietor, while if it is too thick the contractor loses.

To make sure that the contour of the earth is correct it is customary to measure the depth of the surface below the top of the usual road forms at intervals of one foot across the width of the 5 road, the forms being placed one at each side and one along the middle of the road if the road is laid in two strips. For this purpose one man stretches a string across the. top of the forms and another walks across the roadbed and measures the distance from the string to the roadbed at each interval of one foot with a ruler or the like, and this is done at intervals of fifty feet along the length of the road. It cannot be done until after the roadbed has been shaped, but must be done ahead of the concrete laying crew. Any

delay in measuring necessarily holds up the concrete laying crew and so is very expensive, as

these crews commonly consist of a large number of men.

Such losses of time of course fall on the contractor, who is commonly put to other losses due to the inaccuracies in the present method of measuring, as he must be sure to lay the concrete to the minimum thickness at least. Then the string will sag at the middle, causing further trouble,

it takes time to stretch the string, and each measurement must be taken separately and read off and written down as the same is made, whether or not the crew is held up by such operations,

whereas with improved device all measurements across the roadbed can be made at one time and the device then taken to the roadside and the measurements read off and recorded. It will be understood that if there are high places they must be smoothed off before the concrete is laid, while low places must be filled up with earth, as being less costly than concrete. It will be understood also that the use of my device is not limited to concrete roads, as the device can be used in checking a grade on which any sort of surfacing is to be laid. It is also useful for checking the final result, i. e.; the top surface of a road or the like after the material of whatever nature. has been laid and finished, etc.

Referring to the drawing, which is made a part hereof and in which similar reference characters indicate similar parts;

Fig. 1 is an elevation of my apparatus, illustrating its use on a roadbed which is partly shown in section,

Fig. 2, an enlarged view of a portion thereof,

Fig. 3, a like view taken from the rear,

Fig. 4, a plan of a foot hereinafter described, with another part shown in section,

Fig. 5, a section on line 55 of Fig. 2, and

Fig. 6, a detail of parts shown in Fig. 1.

In the drawing, reference character in indicates a fiat-faced member which may be a board or plank or other suitable linear member, and which is hereinafter referred to for convenience as a board. This member is of such a length that it can rest at or near its ends on the road forms ll, here shown as being at opposite sides of the roadbed. In order that it may stand upright Without being held it is provided at one or both ends with a pair of angle irons l2, secured to the board and arranged so that their lower horizontal legs rest on the upper surface of a form or forms.

Preferably, but not necessarily, the board is provided with a plurality of spaced vertical slots at one side, as indicated at lit, for the reception of the. slidable members M. It will be evident that they could be held on the face of the board in other ways, or they could even be located in holes extending through the board. These slides are held frictionally against movement crosswise of the board, by means such as the bolts l5, which extend through holes in the board and slots in the slides. The nuts on the bolts being drawn up to the proper degree of tightness it will be seen that the slides can move when force is applied thereto, but will stay in place otherwise. The slides are provided at their lower ends with feet 18 of substantial size so as not to sink into soft ground, the feet being pivoted to the slides at IT.

In a preferred form of the invention the board is provided at each side of each slide with a scale indicated respectively at is and i9, and the slide has an indicator of suitable form applied thereto in any desirable manner, here shown as a double-headed arrow 20. It will be seen that as the arrow moves it indicates the distance from the bottom of the board to the road surface below it.

Coacting with one of the scales is another indicator, which may be denominated a master indicator, and which is here shown in the form of an arrow 2 I. This arrow is carried by a bolt 22 mounted for vertical sliding movement to any desired adjusted position in a slot 23. It indicates the desired depth or distance between the bottom of the board and the surface of the roadbed underneath. If the drawing be taken as indicat ing the result of a measurement, then Fig. 2 shows that at that point the desired depth or distance is about 4 inches, whereas the actual distance is 4 inches, so that earth should be removed to adepth of three-eighths inch.

It will be seen that the apparatus may be positioned as in Fig. 1 and that then the feet will all reach the surface below them unless there is some inordinate depression, they having all been moved to their lower limit of movement previously, whereupon they will force the various slides upward to various extents, according to the distance of the surface from the bottom edge of the board. The slides being frictionally held in place on the board, they will hold the positions so taken and the entire apparatus can be removed to the roadside or other convenient place, where the readings are taken and recorded, after which the slides can again be lowered and the next measurement taken; e. g., about fifty feet up the road and between the surfacing machine and the concrete laying machine or the like.

Conventional handholds are shown at 24 in Fig. 1 and also a gauge 25, which serves as usual for determining the position of the board relative to the form, and which is adjustable along the board according to the width of the road.

The members 14 may conveniently be in the form of ordinary flat rulers provided with an ordinary scale, as shown at 26, or a metric scale or both, and modified to suit my purpose. A scale may be provided at 21 in addition to the other scales shown. If the scale 21 is provided the scales at l8 and I9 may be omitted, as the indicator 2| can be set by means of scale 21.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that the apparatus here shown by way of illustration can be varied in many respects, all without departing from the spirit of my invention, and therefore I do not limit myself to what is herein shown and described but only as required by the state of the art.

Having thus fully described my said invention, what I claim is:

1. Road measuring apparatus comprising a board having a plurality of parallel transverse slots in a side face thereof, means on the board adapted to rest on a road form for holding the board upright, freely slidable gauge members in said slots, means for frictionally holding said slidable members in position, pivoted feet on said gauge members, scales on the board at opposite sides of each slot, indicating means on said gauge members coacting with said scales, and an indicator adjustably mounted adjacent each gauge member in position to coact with one of said scales.

2. Road measuring apparatus comprising a board, means on the board adapted to rest on a road form for holding the board upright, freely slidable gauge members on said board and extending downward from the same, braking means acting frictionally on said members to hold them in adjacent position, coacting means on said board and said gauge members for indicating distances between said board and a surface below the same and an adjustable master indicator for each gauge member, said master indicator being adapted to be set so as to indicate a desired distance between said board and a road surface below the same.

3. Road measuring apparatus comprising a board, means on the board adapted to rest on a road form for holding the board upright, vertically .slidable gauge members on said board and extending downward below the same, means on the board for indicating a desired distance below the board to a road surface, and means movable with a gauge member to show the amount of varia tion from such desired distance.

LEWIS W. HALL. 

